Practice GMAT Sentence Correction Question

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The flood of home foreclosures that followed the large economic recession in 2008 caused housing prices to drop precipitously, which lead to the writing down of mortgage backed securities, and, to fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral.

A)	which lead to the writing down of mortgage backed securities, and, to fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral
B)	which led to the write downs of mortgage backed securities and fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral
C)	which lead to the write down of mortgage backed securities and the fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral
D)	leading to write downs of mortgage backed securities and fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral
E)	leading to write downs of mortgage backed securities and, fears of a Great Depression-like downward spiral

Correct Answer: D

The main issue in this sentence deals with ensuring a concise parallelism in listing the two results of the economic problems.

(1) The economic trouble led to two actions, which should be parallel: (a) write downs of mortgage backed securities (b) fears of a Great Depression-like spiral.

the phrase the writing down of..., and, to fears of... is not parallel
the phrase the write downs of... and fears of is not parallel as the first the should be removed
although this phrase is technically parallel, the inclusion of the before each result makes the sentence awkward and not concise
the phrase write downs of... and fears of... is both concise and parallel
the phrase write downs of... and, fears of... is not parallel

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